Jacob S. Paulsen.com

So when it comes to home based business owners like myself, we really tend to feed on the coolest of the internet services. Especially the free ones. Today I just wanted to highlight a few of those. (No surprise any of these are google services).

IGoogle:
Customized Home pages aren’t anything new but Google has made a huge innovation in personalized home pages. With bazillions of different “widgets” you can add to your site there is almost little need to even leave you home page anymore.
Google Reader: Now that I’m into blogging and more importantly keeping up on other people’s blogs I love this program that alerts me every time anyone on my list posts a new blog entry. Because I have a Google reader “widget” on my Igoogle home page I know immediately when family and friends post. I love it.

Skype: Instant Messaging isn’t really new either but Skype has changed the way we do this. They have integrated a full feature video VOIP phone. Fancy way of saying you can make phone calls for free via the internet to anyone anywhere in the world who also has the free software installed. Turning on the video is an option and we generally only use it for family who want to see the baby but still… Super Cool.

Plaxo: Plaxo does a lot of things but the coolest is its ability to synchronize your contacts and calendar between your Google, Yahoo, MSM, Hotmail, excite, email services in addition to MAC, Outlook, Express, etc. HOLY COW this is amazing. The premium services are cool too, but the free account does about everything I need it to do.

Ok. I’ll stop for now. No doubt I will rave about more programs in the future.

Jacob S. Paulsen
skype: jacob.paulsen

I have the unfortunate situation of having never seen either of my favorite animals. They don’t even have them in the zoo and there is a good reason for it. They are big, really big.
My first favorite animal happens to be the biggest reptile in the world. It’s not a dragon or snake. It’s the salt-water crocodile. They grow up to 23 feet long and as tall as 3 1/2 feet. That’s so huge. It’s basically the only surviving dinosaur. I really want an actual size stuffed one but I not only don’t know where to buy one but I don’t know where to keep one.

My second favorite animal has the largest eyeball in the world. Up until about 5 years ago the Giant Squid was a total fable. It was about as real as the loch ness monster. Scientists thought the Giant Squid might exist because of the damage they would find on whales. They weren’t aware of any other animals in the see that could cause such damage. About 5 years ago a Giant Squid washed up on shore. About a year ago some Japanese fisherman became the first people to ever see a live giant squid. That’s just cool, and even if it wasn’t cool enough the fact that their eyeballs are as big as basketballs is also pretty darn cool.

For those of us who are interested in Internet Marketing there are few things as powerful as blogging. At first the word blog may make you think about stay at home mom’s posting pictures of their children to a webpage, but blogging is much more than that. Blogs have a special ability to be crawled by search engines and their content reaches a very large audience. Search engines work off of many things but one of them is keywords. Reaccuring keywords in a blog are likely to make it very visible. Search engines also like changing content. Because blogs have a tendancy to have new content added almost daily they are extra “crawled” by the search engines. Also because blogs strongly resemble forums because posts to a blog can be commented on by visitors to the blog this can also increase the tendancy to be found by search engines.

Also blogs can have a tremendous impact on the increased visibility of your other marketing sites because of the RSS technology. Let me give you an example. This very post that you are reading right now will automatically be inserted into over 40 different sites today when I hit the “Post” button. Blogs can be subscribed to via an RSS feed. This allows me to automatically embed new posts into whatever website I choose. This allows my marketing sites to also have a constant change of content every time I post a new blog entry even though the general content of the site never changes. It also feeds a constant new set of key words into my marketing sites also making them more search engine friendly. The obvious key word in this post is Blog and if it weren’t such a common key word it might get some of my pages listed in the top
20 results of some search engines.

What service should you use to Blog? If you are interested in a social climate where you can have your friends read and remark to your blog I would suggest google’s very own Blogspot.

They allow a lot of customization to your blog and because they are hosted by google they are crawled fairly regularily by the search engine. You can opt to have a non public blog if you choose.

If you are interested in creating an ongoing stream of new RSS content for your marketing website(s) I would suggest a service called BlogFather.  Blog Father was created by the internet marketing company Veretekk and their system is optomized for both search engine customization as well as RSS feeding.

Both of these services are free of charge so go to it! Start blogging today!

Jacob Paulsen

Technology is changing the way business is done in many ways. One of

those is conferencing. The old days of flying all of your team into one

location and paying for a hotel conference room are over. The expenses

of leasing a conference room, travel, etc are just to much, and frankly

not necessary.

Web conferencing has created a more practical solution. Now your

team can join you in an online webcast room from anywhere in the world where

they have an internet connection. This means that nobody needs to get

dressed up or travel anywhere. There are various web conferencing

software options available. I have tried at least a trial of all of

them and I have found that the Vereconference system designed by Ivocalize is by far the most stable and the most versatile. Also, I

found it to be the least expensive option out there.

Here are some advantages to the VereConference webcast system.

• All you need is a computer with an Internet connection of

  any kind.

• You can use it to provide live, online support for your

  existing customers and website visitors.

• Perform live onling training sessions for your team.
• Clean interface. Extremely easy to use! Just click the link

  and you’re in!

• Rich, quality sound. All you need is a headset and speakers!
• Text chat for your guests

  without a microphone!

• Private text

  chat conversations on the side of the main presentation!

• Keyboard commands for visually impaired users!
• Synchronized

  web browsing allows you to push web pages for 1000′s of

  viewers to see.

• Superior white board features!
• Supports IFRAMES in html web pages.
• 100% Internet

  based – no phone line or teleconference needed.

• Recording feature – archive your meetings and post them on

  the web! (not included with free rooms)

• Unlimited monthly web conferencing!
• Customize the look and feel of your room.
• Live customer support – just when you need it!

For more information or to try a VereConference trial room for free

visit: www.webcastrooms.com

Jacob Paulsen

skype: jacob.paulsen

Ami and I were able to go to see Prince Caspian on Saturday night while her parents were in town. This is the first time we have been to the theater since Simon was born and it was quite nice. Ami had labeled “The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe” her favorite movie ever so there was a lot of excitement to see Caspian. We made our first mistake by listening to the audiobook during the day during our drive to salt lake and back. This made us more sensitive to the differences between the movie and the book. There were a lot of differences and to be frank the Narnia books just weren’t that well written. What I mean to say is that the books are delightful and I enjoy them because of the content but C.S. Lewis was not a great author, but a great philosopher and thats what made his books good. The movie was awesome in spite, or in fact because it was different from the book. We really enjoyed it except to say I’m wondering why they decided to have a latino Prince Caspian. As if his looks weren’t enough to make all the girls freak out they have to give him a sexy accent to go with it. Not that I was personally attracted mind you, I’m straight but I could see it in the eyes of my wife and other female audience members. We aren’t as blind to these things as you girls think. We know when you are checking out other dudes. Just to clarify I’m not upset at you Ami. It’s natural and I expect you to notice good looking dudes. I just wish Disney wouldn’t have made it so easy.

Jacob

We are very grateful to Racheal & Chris Pivik who hooked us up with a bunch of Baby Einstein DVDs. Simon has a longer attention span for Baby Einstein than for any thing else we have tried. I think it should be classified along with fishing shows, camp fires, really fat people and other thing that you can’t help but stare at. ‘m serious, even I find myself watching Baby Einstein when Simon isn’t in the room. I don’t always have much option since we now keep it on repeat play all day long.
On a side note I just finished listening to the complete audiobook “The Count of Monte Cristo.” Sweet book. I love the movie but the book was even better. On another side note who stole my movie “The Count of Monte Cristo?” I have an empty DVD case. On another side not my Spiderman 1 DVD case is also empty… ok enough side notes.

Jacob

1. A fully trained Police Dog. Either a German Shepard or Bloodhound.
2. A car with GPS Navigation. Lexus and Infiniti are my favorites.
3. A beat up piece of crap truck that I wouldn’t hesitate to take anywhere.
4. 3 or 4 flat panel tvs. One for each spot in the house.
5. A beastly fast IMac with a insanely huge monitor
6. A Jacuzzi tub. (Which would in turn mean a new house or serious renovation)
7. A Sweet Shotgun and a good gun safe. (that would make my armory sort of complete)
8. A HUGE manly BBQ Grill. Stainless Steel.
9. A beach house in Cabedelo, PB Brazil
10. A jet with pilot to fly me to my beach house in Brazil

What would be some of the frivolous things are your list?

There are certain books that I try to read/listen to every year. These would be my all stars of personal development and business. Though you
may not choose to read these books every year I do highly recommend reading them at least once and creating your own list of “every year”
books. To see all my book reviews visit my goodreads list on my facebook or myspace profile.

• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen R. Covey is a genius without question but this book is still very applicable even 25 years after it was written. It seems like every time I read it a different habit really sticks out to me.
• Rich Dad Poor Dad. Robert Kiyosaki is an amazing author in addition to being an investing genius. This number one best seller
  teaches the basic principles of business & money that I believe govern our financial world. He does a great job of teaching these
  principles along with telling a personal story.
• 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. John Maxwell is a great teacher. In this book he outlines the governing principles that dictate
  leadership. By mastering these laws you begin to lead, like it or not:)
• Who Took My Money. Robert Kiyosaki does it again for me. Here he continues the Rich Dad story and teaches the basic principles in
  regards to cash flow and investing. An absolute must.
• Think & Grow Rich. Napolean Hill sacrificed many years of his life to put together this book of governing principles. He
  interviewed the most influencial and richest people in America and this is what he learned.

Some other books I try and read over and over again.

• How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
• The Greatest Salesman in the World – Og Mandino
• 1776 – David McCullough
• Good to Great – Jim Collins
• Speed of Trust – Stephen M. R. Covey
• Raving Fans – Ken Blanchard

Jacob Paulsen

So 5 years ago I never would have believed that Apple could make such a come back. PCs had such a hold on the market place. Although Mac has been making huge innovations for sometime nobody cared or noticed until the Ipod was launched. Since the Ipod has or at least had no competition people were forced to look at Mac. Well about a month ago I converted to a Mac book laptop and now I feel the pressure to convert to the Iphone. Since I’m not the only one out there feeling torn in two directions I thought I would take this opportunity to share my two cents comparing these two platforms and their simple pros and cons.

Mac VS PC
* Easier: Once you are accustomed I think the mac is easier

* Safer: Anyone who knows anything would concur that the Mac is safer from viruses and crashes

* Customizable: Thought mac is very easy to customize I think the PC is still more customizable because there is a lot more freeware (free software) out there for PCs.

* Software: Once again the PC wins. Developers make their programs for PCs first and macs second. There is just more out there for PCs. On a sidenote you can get a windows terminal on your mac to run pc programs.

Iphone VS Windows Mobile – Thinking of getting a iphone or a smartphone?
* Easier: If you use a PC that a windows mobile smartphone will be easier. Works the same like with a start menu etc.

* Business Use: Windows Mobile wins again. Iphone can convert word & excell files but they are read only. Windows Mobile can edit and save word, excell, and powerpoint files. Also the Iphone has a haphazard sync possibility with outlook but its really not that good.

* Trendy: Here is where the Iphone shines. It just looks cool.

* Music/Video: Windows Mobile comes with windows media which plays music and video very well. But since anymore most of us use itunes and not windows media the Iphone is easier to use and comes with a lot more built in memory to hold more songs and movies.

* Keyboard/Input: Though all the Iphone users I know defend the touch screen keyboard to the death I just can’t believe that its easier/quicker/more accurate than a full sized keyboard available on many windows mobile phones.

* Availability: Windows mobile is a common platform that every cell phone carrier will have. Iphones are only made for Cingular. Though you can unlock them for other GSM carriers (T-mobile) you could never use them on TDMA/PCS carriers (Verizon, Cricket, Sprint, Nextel, etc).

* Customizablitiy: Once again there is so much more software out there for windows mobile because it is a pc platform. Iphones come with more cool stuff stock, but the windows mobile can do so much more

* Summary: Show me something that an Iphone can do that my Windows Mobile can’t and I’ll switch

IPod VS ??? OK honestly though there are some knock-offs on the market I’ve never given any of them any consideration.

Jacob Paulsen
www.ageljacob.com
wwweb.vereconference.com

skype: jacob.paulsen

I herby vow to maintain our yard this summer. Ami and I are tired of having to mow through jungles. In the past we have let our grass get a little long before cutting it. The obvious benefit is not mowing as often. The problem is that when you do mow its three times the work, not to mention the neighbors regard you as white trash. Especially these one crazy neighbors on the corner who mow their lawn 3 times per week. They bought the house over a year ago and still haven't moved in. This doesn't however keep them from coming over three times per week to do 8 hours of yard work. So anyway our mower has been repaired and the grass is cut. Any elaborate garden plans have been postponed for next year but we are happy to have a clean and green yard:-)